Matters of Scale - The Price of Security

Estimated cost of securing Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland, for the July 2005 Group of Eight (G8) summitUS $180,000,000

Average yearly earnings per 100,000 people living in the 18 poor countries pledged complete debt relief by the G8$180,000,000

Estimated cost of security and other preparations for the July 2006 G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia$400,000,000

President Bush’s fiscal year 2007 budget request for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security$42,700,000,000

U.S. Department of Defense budget for fiscal year 2007$448,818,000,000

Al Qaeda estimated budget for one year$30,000,000

Estimated hourly cost of flying the U.S. president in Air Force One$56,800

Median value of a home in Arkansas County, Arkansas; Lefore and Tunica Counties, Mississippi; Kingman County, Kansas; Jackson County, Minnesota; Blaine County, Montana; and Hemphill County, Texas$56,800

Number of Google hits for the search term “global security” (July 20, 2006)10,600,000

Number of Google hits for the search term “U.S. security”4,920,000

Sources: Summit costs, earnings: London Sunday Times, June 19, 2005; CIA World Fact Book; www.petersburgcity.com. Budgets: Department of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief Fiscal Year 2007; Department of Defense 2007 Budget Detail; the Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. Air Force One cost, house value: USA Today, U.S. Census Bureau.